If Trump Can Get Away With This, What Can’t He Get Away With?

What Democrats, and fired FBI Director James Comey, can do to prevent Donald Trump from destroying rule of law in America.

May 15, 2017

Donald Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey in order to obstruct Comey’s investigation into coordination between his aides and the Russian operatives who subverted Hillary Clinton’s campaign has shocked the conscience of nearly everyone in politics. But because Trump’s party controls Congress, it is scarily plausible that he will get away with it. If he does, the harm done to rule of law in the country will be difficult to recover from.

Susan Hennessy is a national security studies fellow at the Brookings Institution and managing editor of the website Lawfare. She joined us on episode 55 of Primary Concerns from the Brookings studio to assess the potential damage and what can be done to stop it.

Further reading:

Jack Goldsmith and Benjamin Wittes explain why partisan loyalists can’t be allowed to run the FBI.

Brian Beutler argues that Republicans are diluting the inherent powers of Congress to let a president they know to be unstable get away with crimes.